The clanging of a majestic Austrian cowbell reverberated off the terminal walls, shattering a tranquil Saturday morning at the Salt Lake City International Airport. Wide-eyed passengers straightened in their seats to an eruption of applause as Peter Landsman emerged from the jet bridge with a modest smile on his face.
A crew of 10 fans, a decadently frosted cake, a Ski Utah Silver Ski Pass, and a handful of other gifts, including the 25-pound Austrian cowbell from the Doppelmayr ropeway company, were on hand to surprise Landsman at the airport. Landsman runs the popular LiftBlog.com website and has devoted himself to cataloging all the chairlifts, trams, and ropeways on the land. He was returning to his home in Jackson, Wyoming, having finally achieved his goal of visiting all 750 in the US and Canada to profile some 3,300 chairlifts.
Landsman鈥檚 journey ended at Moose Mountain T-bar near Dawson City in Canada鈥檚 Yukon on June 19, 2024. This public ski hill, without so much as a website, was the 750th on Landsman鈥檚 list and required five days of travel on either end to cap off his stellar achievement. The grueling travel, red-eye flights, sleepless nights spent driving, sleeping in ski resort parking lots, and Landsman鈥檚 diligent updates to the LiftBlog website are all a testament to his obsession.
Following his triumphant journey back to Jackson, we sat down with Landsman to discuss his decades-in-the-making accomplishment.
SKI: Now that you鈥檝e completed your goal, how do you feel looking back on this journey?
Peter Landsman: I went right back to work on the tram Sunday morning. Some of my coworkers saw the airport party on social media and congratulated me, but it was right back to the normal lift operating scene. At Jackson Hole, we鈥檝e got summer mountain biking, hiking, sightseeing鈥t鈥檚 busy!
Can you tell us about the origins of LiftBlog and what inspired you to start it?
Since I began skiing at Snoqualmie Pass at age 4, I鈥檝e been interested in lifts. Each lift was painted in a different color, and I was fascinated by that. As a little kid, I started taking pictures of chairlifts as soon as I had a digital camera, and I built a catalog of images. In college in New England, I visited many resorts in Maine and New Hampshire. After college, I moved to Jackson on a whim and started as a seasonal lift operator. The LiftBlog project grew out of off-season boredom in 2014 when I needed something to do with a few weeks off. I made a website and thought maybe others would be interested in the pictures I was taking.
What is your motivation?
It is certainly not fame or fortune! I personally find skiing and chairlifts to be fascinating and I find it satisfying to share my interests with other people who also find it interesting. I鈥檓 blown away by how many people read LiftBlog, a few thousand people per day!
Who uses LiftBlog and why is it such an invaluable resource?
It鈥檚 two main groups: ski industry people who work for lift companies or at ski resorts use it for historical reference, to answer repair questions, or to see what other resorts are doing. Then there are skiers who are passionate about skiing. Even those who aren鈥檛 necessarily lift nerds like to see what鈥檚 going on in the industry.
What site visit has been the strangest or most curious?
In Alaska, at Mount Eyak, there is one of the original single chairs built in the 1930s. It鈥檚 the only lift of that vintage still operating in North America. Most 鈥渙lder鈥 lifts nowadays are from the 60s or 70s.
Do you have a favorite lift?
Whistler鈥檚 PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola because it suspends large, 28-passenger aerial tram cabins on a detachable ropeway system. It鈥檚 efficient, can run in high winds, and is suspended 1,400 feet in the air between two mountains. Due to the expense, there鈥檚 no way this lift would be built in this day and age.
Do you have a favorite lift in each region?
- Northeast: Slide Brook Express at Sugarbush, VT
- Midwest: The Gondola at Lutsen Mountains, MN
- Rockies: Jackson Hole Tram in Jackson, WY
- Northern Rockies: The Silver Mountain Gondola in Kellogg, ID
- Pacific Northwest: Northway at Crystal, WA
- South: The Arizona Gondola at Snowbowl in Flagstaff, AZ
- California: Chair 23 at Mammoth, CA
What does skiing mean to you?
I was very lucky, as neither of my parents grew up skiing. They learned later in life and fell in love with it, sharing it with their kids. We skied on the weekends, mostly at Crystal Mountain in Washington, and traveled around the state to ski. Skiing is freedom. It allows me to get outside, see beautiful places, spend time in the mountains, and also check out these really cool machines full of technology that just happen to be in very wild places. I enjoy skiing every day at work at Jackson Hole and riding all the lifts to supervise them.
What鈥檚 next?
LiftBlog was only caught up for four days before the LEGOLAND New York Resort theme park debuted a new gondola last week. So, naturally, I鈥檒l be visiting LEGOLAND next week to document the Minifigure Skyflyer with its seven custom-themed cabins. There are about 50 new lifts under construction this summer, so I鈥檓 looking forward to a busy winter.